Multi-pack of articles with indicia

ABSTRACT

A multi-pack of articles with indicia is disclosed herein.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/553,580, filed Sep. 1, 2017, whichis expressly incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to a package, and morespecifically to a multi-pack of articles with indicia.

BACKGROUND

It is often desirable to provide articles for sale or consumption in anaesthetically pleasing and/or structurally stable arrangement. Forexample, it is often desirable to provide for sale or consumption apackage having multiple articles such as tape or duct tape that ispresented in an aesthetically pleasing way with labels or other visualindicia arranged in a pattern or array.

One way rolls of tape such as duct tape is presented is in a packagecontaining multiple rolls of tape. Often the rolls of tape areindividually wrapped, for example, shrink wrapped, the individuallywrapped rolls are stacked, the stack is again wrapped for example by asecondary shrink wrap process, and then that whole package is labeled.

SUMMARY

One or more embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure mayaddress one or more of the aforementioned problems. Certain embodimentsaccording to the present disclosure provide a multi-pack of articleswith indicia in a pattern or array, and methods of forming such amulti-pack of articles.

In one aspect, for instance, some embodiments may provide a multi-packof articles, comprising a plurality of articles arranged in a stackedrelationship, with each article adjacent at least one other article.Each article may have an axis, an outer surface, a first side surface,and a second side surface opposite the first side surface. A primaryvisual indicia may be coupled to the outer surface of at least onearticle. A binder may be coupled to a first location on the outersurface of the wrap and a second location on the outer surface of thewrap, wherein the first location overlays the outer surface of at leastone article and the second location overlays the outer surface of atleast a second article.

In another aspect, some embodiments may provide an array of articles,comprising a plurality of adjacent articles arranged in a side by siderelationship and retained within a wrap, with a primary visual indiciaon each article. A first overlay area may be provided on the wrapoverlaying a portion of an outer surface of a first article and/or asecond overlay area may be provided on the wrap overlaying a portion ofan outer surface of a second article, wherein the first article and thesecond article are adjacent. A binder may be coupled to the firstoverlay area and the second overlay area bridging the first article andthe second article. At least one secondary visual indicia may be on thebinder, wherein each primary visual indicia and each secondary visualindicia are arranged in a predetermined pattern.

In yet another aspect, some embodiments may provide a method forproviding a package having multiple articles. The method may comprisethe steps of determining a pattern or array for visually displaying aplurality of articles, providing the plurality of articles in aside-by-side relationship, providing a primary visual indicia on each ofsaid plurality of articles, and/or providing the plurality of articleswith primary visual indicia in a wrap. The wrap may have at least oneseparating portion for at least partially separating adjacent articles.The separating portion may have an expanded condition and a contractedcondition. The separating portion of the wrap may be moved from theexpanded condition to the contracted condition, and the binder may becoupled to a first location on the wrap and a second location on thewrap with the wrap in the contracted condition, wherein the separatingportion is interposed between the first location on the wrap and thesecond location on the wrap.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING(S)

Embodiments now will be described more fully hereinafter with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments areshown. Indeed, embodiments may be illustrated or described in manydifferent forms, and the present disclosure should not be construed aslimited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather. Like numbers referto like elements throughout, and wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a front perspective view of an embodiment of a multi-packof articles with labels;

FIG. 2 shows a side perspective view of an embodiment of a multi-pack ofarticles;

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a multi-pack ofarticles with alternative labels;

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a multi-pack ofarticles with other alternative labels;

FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a plurality ofarticles arranged in an embodiment of a wrap;

FIG. 6 shows the plurality of articles and wrap of FIG. 5, with the wrapmoved radially inwardly at the ends and between articles;

FIG. 7 shows a side view of an embodiment of a plurality of articles inan embodiment of a wrap, with the wrap moved radially inwardly at theends and between articles; and

FIG. 8 shows the articles and wrap of FIG. 7, with the articles movedcloser together and with portions of the wrap between articles andseparating them.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments now will be described more fully hereinafter with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments areshown. Indeed, embodiments may take many different forms and the presentdisclosure should not be construed as limited to the embodiments setforth herein. As used in the specification, and in the appended claims,the singular forms “a”, “an”, “the”, include plural referents unless thecontext clearly dictates otherwise.

The terms “substantial” or “substantially” may encompass the wholeamount as specified, according to certain embodiments, or largely butnot the whole amount specified according to other embodiments.

Some embodiments of a package or multi-pack 10 may include one or morearticles 5 for storage in package or multi-pack 10, such as is shown inFIGS. 1 and 2. This exemplary embodiment is shown having four articles5, each in the form of a roll of material such as tape for example, thatare packaged together in a substantially unitary multi-pack form. If aroll of material is used, it may have an inner surface 52 such as thatshown in FIG. 1. Alternatively, a roll of material may be wrapped arounda central tube 56, such as that shown in FIG. 2, where the central tubemay be made of cardboard or plastic for example, or virtually any othermaterial or any combination thereof. One or more articles may includeone or more indicia such as primary indicia 30 and/or secondary indicia40, which may be, for example, a label or the like intended tocommunicate information to a user or consumer visually or otherwise.Continuing this example, primary indicia 30 may be a label containing acompany name, a brand name, a logo, marketing information, and/ortechnical information while secondary indicia 40 may be a labelincluding additional information such as product information, regulatoryinformation, or the like, for example. Alternatively, secondary indicia40 may be a label containing a company name, a brand name, a logo,marketing information, and/or technical information while primaryindicia 30 may be a label including additional information such asproduct information, regulatory information, or the like, for example.It is understood that information provided on the primary indicia 30and/or secondary indicia 40 may be virtually any type of information,and the information on each indicia may overlap with that on the otherindicia, complement or supplement the information on the other, and thelike.

Multi-pack 10 may include one or more binders 60. Binders 60 may beincluded for any of a variety of reasons, such as maintaining articles 5and/or primary indicia 30 or other indicia of multi-pack 10 in a desiredrelationship and/or alignment, providing added stability to multi-pack10, and/or communicating information to a user or consumer, or anycombination thereof. Binder 60 may couple to, attach to, fasten, and/orconnect a first article 5 with a second article 5. For example, binder60 may be an adhesive or a piece of tape that may be stuck or coupled toa first location on a first article 5 and a second location on a secondarticle 5, and/or binder 60 may bridge a gap, space, and/or disconnectbetween the first article 5 and the second article 5. The first article5 and the second article 5 may be adjacent and connected by binder 60,or binder 60 may connect more than two articles 5, for example. Binder60 may add, for example, structural support to multi-pack 10 and/orcommunicate information. It is understood that while binder 60 may insome embodiments communicate information visually, in alternativeembodiments binder 60 may be clear, communicate little or no visualinformation, and/or configured to attract little or no attention. Binder60, primary indicia 30, and/or secondary indicia 40 may be configured tocommunicate information in ways other than visually, which may occurinstead of or in addition to communicating information visually. Forexample, binder 60, primary indicia 30, and/or secondary indicia 40 maycommunicate information electronically, such as with an RFID or thelike. Binder 60 may communicate any of a variety of types ofinformation, such as for example and without limitation, quantity ofarticles 5 in multi-pack 10, details of article 5 (e.g., 50 yards oftape), a sale price or percentage discount (e.g., 20% off), brand orlogo information, any other type of information, or any combinationthereof.

Any or all of primary indicia 30, secondary indicia 40, any additionalor other indicia, and binder 60 may be located on multi-pack 10, one ormore articles 5, and/or any component thereof. Moreover, one or moreprimary indicia 30, one or more secondary indicia 40, one or moreadditional or other indicia, and/or one or more binders 60 may bearranged in a pattern or array. For example, each article 5 may includea primary indicia 30 overlaying at least a portion of an outer surface51 of each article 5, with each primary indicia 30 in substantialalignment relative to the primary indicia 30 of one or more otherarticles 5, such as is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. If secondary indicia 40are included, each secondary indicia 40 may overlay at least a portionof outer surface 51 of each article 5, with each secondary indicia 40 insubstantial alignment relative to the secondary indicia 40 of one ormore articles 5 and/or one or more secondary indicia 40 may be locatedoffset and/or substantially opposite primary indicia 30 on outer surface51 and/or article 5, such as is shown in FIG. 2. It is understood thatany primary indicia 30 may be offset from any other primary indicia 30and/or any secondary indicia 40, if included, may be offset from anyother secondary indicia 40. The offset may be, for example, a rotationalor angular offset relative to a central axis 55 (central axis 55 isshown in FIGS. 7 and 8).

It is understood that any primary indicia 30 or any variation thereofmay vary from any other primary indicia 30 or any variation thereof. Forexample, a first primary indicia 30 may be visually distinct from asecond primary indicia 30. Continuing this example, the first primaryindicia 30 may include brand or marketing information and/ormanufacturer information, and second primary indicia 30 may includeother or additional information, such as the number of rolls inmulti-pack 10. It is further understood that any secondary indicia 40 orany variation thereof may vary from any other secondary indicia 40 orany variation thereof, and/or any binder 60 or any variation thereof mayvary from any other binder 60 or any variation thereof. Examples includebut are not limited to those described above in relation to primaryindicia 30.

Binder 60 may be configured/or and located on multi-pack 10 in a patternor array, such as the alternating pattern shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, witheach binder 60 located substantially on the opposite side of articles 5from the binder 60 above or below it. The terms above and below used inthis way are based on an orientation of multi-pack 10 shown in FIGS. 1and 2, with a first side surface 53 of each article above a second sidesurface 54 of each article 5, and with the second side surface 54 ofeach article 5 below the first side surface 53 of each article 5. It isunderstood that multi-pack 10 or any component thereof may be orientedin any of a variety of ways, such as the vertical top to bottomorientation shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in a horizontal side to sideorientation shown for example in FIG. 8, at virtually any angle betweenvertical and horizontal, or in any other way. The orientations shown inthe various figures are merely exemplary. While FIGS. 1 and 2 show onebinder 60 being used to couple, connect, bridge, and/or overlay eachpair of adjacent articles 5, it is understood that more than one binder60 may be used for each pair of adjacent articles 5, some adjacentarticles 5 may not have a binder between them, and/or a single binder 60may couple, connect, bridge, and/or overlay portions of more than twoarticles 5.

It is further understood that binder 60 or variations thereof describedherein may be configured to replace or to extend from primary indicia 30and/or secondary indicia 40 or any variations thereof. For example,binder 60 may include one or more labels or visual or other indicia andmay extend from primary indicia 30 and/or secondary indicia 40 tocouple, connect, bridge, and/or overlay portions of one or more articles5. As a further example, binder 60 may be configured to replace primaryindicia 30 and/or secondary indicia 40. Further still, primary indicia30 or any variation thereof and secondary indicia 40 or any variationthereof may be separate components, but it is understood that primaryindicia 30 and secondary indicia 40 may be physically connected such asif both are included on the same label or otherwise coupled orconnected.

Alternative embodiments of indicia and/or patterns of indicia andbinders are shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 to illustrate at least some of thevariability of these elements. FIG. 3 shows alternative primary indicia31 and alternative binders 61, which may be functionally and/or visuallysimilar to primary indicia 30 and/or binder 60 discussed above. It canbe seen in FIG. 3 that primary indicia 31 can have a different shapethan primary indicia 30, such as, for example, the elongated shape withrounded corners shown. Binders 61 may take any of a variety of forms orshapes as well, such as the rounded, oval, or circular binders 61 shown.Moreover, FIG. 3 illustrates that binders 61 may overlap primary indicia31 for example, and/or some binders 61 may touch some primary indicia31. These varying configurations are shown for illustrative purposesonly and are not to be limiting, as primary indicia 31 and/or binder 61may take any of a variety of forms, shapes, sizes, or any combinationthereof, and may be arranged in any of a variety of ways, such as spacedapart, nearly touching, touching, overlapping, or any combinationthereof. Moreover, FIG. 3 shows that more than one binder 61 may be usedto couple, attach, connect, and/or bridge a single gap between adjacentarticles 5.

Yet another embodiment of multi-pack 10 with varying primary indicia 32,secondary indicia 42, and binders 62 is shown in FIG. 4, which may befunctionally and/or visually similar to primary indicia 30 and/or 31,secondary indicia 40, and/or binder 60 and/or 61 discussed above.Primary indicia 32 are shown as rectangular in shape, secondary indiciaare shown as rectangular in shape but thinner than primary indicia 32,and binders 62 are shown as rectangular in shape. These are additionalexemplary shapes and sizes that are not necessarily to scale, and do notlimit the sizes and shapes available for any of the elements ofmulti-pack 10. In FIG. 4, a binder 62 is shown covering every space,gap, or discontinuity between individual articles 5. Moreover, eachprimary indicia 32 is shown as substantially being in alignment with theother primary indicia, each secondary indicia 42 is shown assubstantially being in alignment with the other secondary indicia, andeach binder 62 is shown as substantially being in alignment with theother binders 62. This is another exemplary embodiment of sizes, shapes,and configurations of articles 5, primary indicia 32, secondary indicia42, and binders 62 that may be provided to form an alternative patternor array of communicating elements. Primary indicia 32, secondaryindicia 42, and/or binders 62 may communicate visual information.Alternatively, any or all of primary indicia 32, secondary indicia 42,and binders 62 may be substantially clear, substantially small, and/orsubstantially unnoticeable. In some exemplary embodiments, secondaryindicia 42 may be less noticeable than primary indicia 32 and/or binders62 may be less noticeable than primary indicia 32, secondary indicia 42,or both. For example, primary indicia 32 may be substantially larger,bolder, and/or brighter than secondary indicia 42 and/or binder(s) 62.

Primary indicia 30 and/or secondary indicia 40 may be coupled to and/orlocated on or over outer surface 51, or a portion thereof, of article 5.Either or both indicia 30, 40, if included, may be adhered or bonded toouter surface 51 such as an adhesive or static cling type label. Eitheror both indicia 30, 40 may be printed onto outer surface 51. Moreover,either or both of indicia 30, 40 may be coupled to, adhered to, attachedto, and/or printed on a wrap substantially surrounding and/or containingone or more articles 5. Articles 5 may be individually wrapped and/orwrapped together in an outer wrap 20 (herein referred to also as wrap20). An embodiment of wrap 20 is illustrated in FIGS. 5-8. If wrap 20 isincluded, it may be printed with either primary indicia 30, secondaryindicia 40, both, or neither. If wrap 20 is printed with primary indicia30 and/or secondary indicia 40, it may be printed so as to have thedesired alignment, array, and/or pattern of indicia desired formulti-pack 10. Articles 5 may be wrapped in wrap 20 having primaryindicia 30 and/or secondary indicia 40 in such a way as to presentarticles 5 and/or multi-pack 10 with a desired aesthetic, visual, and/orcommunicative effect. In some embodiments, each article 5 may beindividually wrapped and then coupled together via one or more binders60. Alternatively, each article 5 may be individually wrapped, andwrapped together in an outer wrap 20. In some embodiments, articles 5may be wrapped together in outer wrap 20 without need or use ofindividual wraps for each individual article 5, and binders 60 may beused to couple one or more adjacent articles 5 overlaying an outersurface of wrap 20 while an inner surface of wrap 20 is adjacent to,proximate, and/or in contact with one or more articles 5.

In these or other embodiments, binder 60 may be a label or other indiciathat reduces or eliminates the need for a separate primary indicia 30, aseparate secondary indicia 40, or both. Binder 60 may include indiciaand be placed over adjacent articles to hold them in proximity andalignment, which may serve as a combination of binder 60 and primaryvisual indicia 30 and/or secondary visual indicia 40, reducing oreliminating the need for and/or number of physically separatecomponents. For example, binder 60 may be a printed label thatadhesively bonds to wrap 20, with a first portion of binder 60overlaying a first article 5, a second portion of binder 60 overlaying asecond article 5, and binder 60 bridging a gap between the first andsecond articles 5.

In some embodiments, wrap 20 may be an accordion type wrap withexemplary separating portions 21, 22, 23 configured to at leastpartially separate adjacent articles 5, such as is shown in FIGS. 5-8.Wrap 20 may have a first end 24 and/or a second end 25. Wrap 20 may be afilm or sheet, for example, and/or may be formed to be substantiallytubular, cylindrical, and/or hollow, may be wrapped about articles 5,and/or may be configured so that articles 5 may be substantiallysurrounded by wrap 20, as shown in FIG. 5. Articles 5 may be in a spacedapart relationship so that separating portions 21, 22, 23 of wrap 20,and/or ends 24, 25 of wrap 20, may be moved inwardly toward the centeror a central axis of one or more articles 5, such as is shown in FIG. 6.One or more separating portions 21, 22, 23 may be included for any of avariety of reasons, including but not limited to separating sides 53, 54of articles 5 from adjacent sides 53, 54 of other articles 5. Ifarticles 5 are, for example, rolls of tape, it may be appreciated thatthe sides 53, 54 may contain an amount of adhesive or bonding materialthat may cause the articles 5 to become stuck together if not separatedby some material, such as separating portion 21, 22, 23. Separatingportions 21, 22, 23 and/or wrap 20 may be made of any of a variety ofmaterials, including, but not limited to, plastics or thermoplasticsmaterials, such as flexible film or sheet plastics material. Wrap 20 orany portion thereof, such as separating portions 21, 22, 23, may forexample be formed of a heat shrinkable plastic film.

It is understood that in some embodiments some or all of the includedarticles 5 may be arranged so that outer surfaces 51 are adjacent oneanother and/or center axes 55 are substantially parallel instead ofsides 53, 54 being adjacent one another and/or center axes 55 beingsubstantially collinear or coaxial. It is further understood thatarticles 5 may be arranged such that some outer surfaces 51 of articles5 are adjacent one another (e.g. center axes 55 parallel) and some sides53, 54 of articles 5 may be adjacent or stacked (e.g. center axes 55coaxial). This may be the situation, for example, if two or more stacksor logs of articles 5 such as rolls of tape are positioned side by side(e.g., a stack of coaxial articles 5 with a center axis 55 that isparallel to a center axis 55 of a second stack of coaxial articles 5).These stacks of articles 5, if there is more than one stack, may forexample be wrapped together or separately with wrap 20 if wrap 20 isincluded and/or may share common indicia 30, 40 and/or binder 60.

Articles 5 may be arranged or provided in a face to face spaced apartrelationship with wrap 20 substantially surrounding articles 5, as shownin FIG. 5, with wrap 20 in a radially outward position. Wrap 20 orportions thereof such as separating portions 21, 22, 23 may be movedradially inwardly toward a radially inward position with the centerand/or a central axis of articles 5, such as is shown in FIG. 6. Forexample, once multi-pack 10 is configured or arranged as shown in FIG.5, heat may be applied to a heat shrink type wrap 20 causing it toconstrict or shrink such that it is biased radially inwardly, witharticles 5 resisting inward movement while separating portions 21, 22,23 move between adjacent articles to arrive at the configuration orarrangement shown in FIG. 6. Separating portions 21, 22, 23 may be madeto move radially inwardly by other mechanisms instead of or in additionto heat shrinking. For example, articles 5 and/or portions of wrap 20adjacent outer surfaces 51 of articles 5 may be twisted and/ormechanically pushed in causing separating portions 21, 22, 23 to moveinwardly.

Referring now to FIGS. 7 and 8, wrap 20 may be moved, configured, and/orarranged to substantially surround some or all of articles 5 inmulti-pack 10. First end 24 and/or second end 25 of wrap 20 may besubstantially closed or substantially covering the outermost sidesurfaces 53, 54 of articles 5. Any or all of separating portions 21, 22,23 may be moved, configured, provided, and/or arranged in an expandedposition or expanded condition such as is shown in FIG. 7, with adjacentarticles spaced apart and separating portions 21, 22, 23, extendingradially inwardly toward a center axis 25 of articles 5 and/or a centraltube 56 of articles 5, if central tubes 56 are included. It isunderstood that some articles 5 may have a central tube 56 while othersmay not, and central tubes 56 are optional. Articles 5 may be moved orpositioned nearer each other, for example, in a contracted position orcontracted condition such as is shown in FIG. 8.

One or more binders 60, 61, 62 may be coupled and/or attached to a firstlocation of wrap 20 overlaying a portion of outer surface 51 of a firstarticle 5, may extend over one or more separating portions 21, 22, 23,and may be coupled and/or attached to a second location of wrap 20overlaying a portion of outer surface 51 of a second article 5, forexample, to arrive at the configuration, arrangement, array, and/orpattern shown in any of the various FIGS. 1-4. It may be appreciatedthat wrap 20 may be substantially clear or transparent so that it is noteasily visually identifiable in the embodiments of FIGS. 1-4. It isunderstood that wrap 20 and/or any portion thereof may be substantiallyclear, transparent, and/or translucent, or wrap 20 and/or any portionthereof may be opaque, colored, and/or tinted. Wrap 20 may be printedwith material including but not limited to primary indicia 30, secondaryindicia 40, or both. For example, wrap 20 may be printed with primaryindicia 30 and/or secondary indicia 40, may be arranged or provided tosubstantially surround articles 5 in the expanded position shown in FIG.5 so that primary indicia 30 and/or secondary indicia 40 overlay in apredetermined pattern or array outer surfaces 51 of respective articles5, may be moved or shrunk so that separating portions 21, 22, 23, whichoptionally may be substantially unprinted, are or become radiallyinwardly positioned to separate adjacent articles 5, and/or ends 24, 25of wrap 20 may be moved or made to cover end surfaces 53, 54 ofoutermost articles 5. Articles 5 may then be moved from the expandedposition shown in FIGS. 5-7 to the contracted position shown in FIG. 8,and binders 60 may be applied to couple adjacent articles 5 and/orportions of wrap 20 overlaying outer surfaces 51 of adjacent articles 5.

Various distances or lengths of separating portions 21, 22, 23 are shownin FIG. 8 for illustrative purposes. For example, separating portion 21may extend radially inwardly from outer surface 51 toward center axis 55a distance d1 that approximately corresponds to the distance from outersurface 51 to central tube 56, if included. Separating portion 21, asshown in FIG. 8 may extend distance d1 so that it substantiallyseparates all or virtually all of first side surface 53 from adjacent orproximate second side surface 54 of an adjacent article 5. Separatingportion 22 may extend radially inwardly from outer surface 51 towardcenter axis 55 a distance d2 that approximately corresponds to adistance greater than the distance from outer surface 51 to central tube56, if included. Separating portion 22 may extend distance d2 so that itsubstantially separates all or virtually all of first side surface 53from adjacent or proximate second side surface 54 of an adjacent article5, while also extending into a hollow area defined by central tube 56 ora central void in that area. Separating portion 23 may extend radiallyinwardly from outer surface 51 toward center axis 55 a distance d3 thatapproximately corresponds to a distance lesser than the distance fromouter surface 51 to central tube 56, if included. Separating portion 23may extend distance d3 so that it substantially separates a portion butnot all of first side surface 53 from adjacent or proximate second sidesurface 54 of an adjacent article 5. Separating portion 23 at distanced3 illustrates that it may be acceptable for some of first side 53 tocome into direct contact with an adjacent second side 54, as it may beacceptable for adjacent articles 5 to be partially stuck together, forexample.

Although the various figures illustrate multi-pack 10 as includingarticles 5 that are substantially cylindrical or roll form in shape, itis understood that multi-pack 10, articles 5, and/or any componentthereof may be any of a variety of shapes or sizes, and the figuresmerely illustrate some embodiments. For example, multi-pack 10 or anycomponent thereof may be substantially circular, oval, cylindrical,square, rectangular, tubular, triangular, spherical, polygonal, freeform, truncated or non-truncated, wider on top, wider on bottom, varyingwidth or depth along its height, width, or depth, or substantiallyuniform in height, width, or depth, multi-pack 10 or any componentthereof may have rounded corners, angled corners, straight corners, orno corners. It is further understood that multi-pack 10 or any componentthereof may be substantially rigid, substantially flexible, a hybrid ofrigid and flexible, or any combination of rigid, flexible, and/orhybrid, such as having some areas be flexible and some rigid.

It is further understood that multi-pack 10 or any component thereof,including but not limited to primary indicia 30, secondary indicia 40,and/or binder 60 may be made of any of a variety of materials,including, but not limited to, any of a variety of suitable paper, wood,cardboard, chipboard, plastics material, any other material, or anycombination thereof. Suitable plastics material may include, but is notlimited to, polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene (PE),high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET),crystallized polyethylene terephthalate (CPET), mixtures andcombinations thereof, or any other plastics material or any mixtures andcombinations thereof. It is understood that multiple layers of materialmay be used for any of a variety of reasons, including to improvebarrier properties, to reduce weight and/or lightweight, or to provideknown functions related to multiple layer structures. The multiplelayers, if included, may be of various materials, including thoserecited herein.

Further still, it is understood that any of a variety of processes orcombination thereof may be used to form multi-pack 10 or any componentthereof, including but not limited to articles 5, wrap 20, primaryindicia 30, secondary indicia 40, and binder 60, or any layer orsubstrate used therein. It is understood that, while some directionalterms are used herein, such as top, bottom, outer, inner, etc., theseterms are not intended to be limiting but rather to relate to one ormore exemplary orientations, positions, and/or configurations ofmulti-pack 10 or any component thereof, such as those illustrated in theaccompanying figures.

These and other modifications and variations may be practiced by thoseof ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit andscope, which is more particularly set forth in the appended claims. Inaddition, it should be understood that aspects of the variousembodiments may be interchanged in whole or in part. Furthermore, thoseof ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the foregoingdescription is by way of example only, and it is not intended to limitthe scope of that which is described in the claims. Therefore, thespirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to theexemplary description of the versions contained herein.

That which is claimed:
 1. A multi-pack of articles, comprising: aplurality of articles arranged together, with each article adjacent atleast one other article; wherein each article has an axis, an outersurface, a first side surface, and a second side surface opposite thefirst side surface; wherein a primary visual indicia overlays at least aportion of the outer surface of at least one article; and a bindercoupled to a first location on the outer surface of the wrap and asecond location on the outer surface of the wrap; wherein the firstlocation overlays the outer surface of at least one article and thesecond location overlays the outer surface of at least a second article.2. The multi-pack of articles of claim 1, wherein each article is a rollof material.
 3. The multi-pack of articles of claim 2, wherein thematerial is an adhesive coated sheet.
 4. The multi-pack of articles ofclaim 1, wherein the binder includes a secondary visual indicia.
 5. Themulti-pack of articles of claim 1, further comprising a wrap forcontaining said plurality of articles, wherein the wrap has an innersurface adjacent the plurality of articles and an outer surface oppositethe inner surface.
 6. The multi-pack of articles of claim 5, whereinsaid wrap includes a separating portion interposed between adjacentarticles and at least partially separating the adjacent articles, andwherein the separating portion is movable between an expanded positionand a contracted position, wherein adjacent articles are separated fromeach other a greater distance in the expanded position than in thecontracted position.
 7. The multi-pack of articles of claim 6, whereinthe separating portion of the wrap, the first location on the outersurface of the wrap, and the second location on the outer surface of thewrap are configured with the separating portion interposed between thefirst location and the second location.
 8. The multi-pack of articles ofclaim 6, wherein the binder retains the separating portion in thecontracted position with the separating portion of the wrap at leastpartially separating the adjacent articles.
 9. The multi-pack ofarticles of claim 1, wherein the wrap is an accordion wrap configured tohave overlay areas overlaying the outer surface of each article, whereinsaid separating portion is interposed between the overlay areas.
 10. Themulti-pack of articles of claim 1, wherein the binder is an adhesive ortape.
 11. The multi-pack of articles of claim 1, wherein at least one ofthe primary indicia and a secondary indicia are printed on the wrap. 12.The multi-pack of articles of claim 1, wherein the plurality of articlesare configured in a stacked relationship wherein the first side surfaceof a first article is face-to-face with the second side surface of asecond article.
 13. An array of articles, comprising: a plurality ofadjacent articles arranged in a side by side relationship and retainedwithin a wrap; a primary visual indicia on at least one article; a firstoverlay area on the wrap overlaying a portion of an outer surface of afirst article and a second overlay area on the wrap overlaying a portionof an outer surface of a second article, wherein the first article andthe second article are adjacent; a binder coupled to the first overlayarea and the second overlay area, the binder bridging a gap between thefirst article and the second article; and at least one secondary visualindicia; wherein each primary visual indicia and each secondary visualindicia are arranged in a predetermined pattern.
 14. The array ofarticles of claim 13, wherein the binder includes the at least onesecondary visual indicia.
 15. The array of articles of claim 13, whereinthe primary visual indicia includes an identification of source, such asmanufacturer name or logo, distributor name or logo, wholesaler name orlogo, or retailer name or logo.
 16. The array of articles of claim 13,wherein the secondary visual indicia includes an indicator of secondaryinformation such as price, discount, quantity, or size.
 17. A method forproviding a package having multiple articles, the method comprising thesteps of: determining a pattern or array for visually displaying aplurality of articles; providing the plurality of articles in aside-by-side relationship; providing a primary visual indicia on atleast one of said plurality of articles; providing the plurality ofarticles with primary visual indicia in a wrap, wherein the wrap has atleast one separating portion for at least partially separating adjacentarticles, and wherein the separating portion has an expanded conditionand a contracted condition; moving the separating portion of the wrapfrom the expanded condition to the contracted condition; and coupling abinder to a first location on the wrap and a second location on the wrapwith the wrap in the contracted condition, wherein the separatingportion is interposed between the first location on the wrap and thesecond location on the wrap.
 18. The method of claim 17, furthercomprising the step of providing the binder with a secondary visualindicia.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein a customer or clientdetermines the pattern or array for visually displaying the plurality ofarticles, and wherein the method further comprises the step ofcommunicating the customer or client determined pattern or array to apackager.
 20. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step ofreducing the diameter of the separating portion prior to moving theseparating portion from the expanded condition to the contractedcondition, wherein the reducing of the diameter of the separatingportion includes at least one of heat shrinking and twisting theseparating portion about an axis of the article.